PCB Design Options

While this approach requires a more intense board design effort, the result is a printed circuit board that costs less to fabricate and assemble. This process is especially appropriate for layout-sensitive designs such as RF, high-speed boards and the like, or where a high degree of optimization is required – lowest layer count and greatest component density.

When you contact us, your customer advocate will respond within one working day to provide you with pricing and scheduling information on our premium full hand-routing service.

Standard Board Design (Guided Auto-Routing)for Greater Value

Guided auto-routing, with much of the initial work performed by the auto-router, generates circuit boards that lend themselves well to manufacturing. When only a few boards are needed, and engineering change orders are unlikely, our standard board design option is often the most economical choice.

Custom-designed Prototypes

Simulation packages are more powerful today than ever before, but with extremely complex or miniaturized circuits, simulation may not be enough…and hand-wired breadboards are impractical.

For these times, we’ll create a custom, professionally built prototype of your entire board or any critical sections you wish to test.

With our prewiredCustom-Design Prototype (CPB1), your design is placed in one section of the board, with a multitude of test points, removable jumpers and free prototyping areas to allow you to test your design and experiment with modifications.

If you prefer, our unwired Custom-Design Prototype (CPB2) provides pads surrounding each mounted component with plenty of room for hand-wiring.

Your unwired prototype includes provisions for wiring and rewiring right on the circuit board. You can then lay out your final prototype and send it to us so that we can build it and assemble the components for it.

Whether you select our prewired or unwired prototype, you have the confidence that the board will be fabricated and properly assembled providing you with a stable platform for high-reliability testing and experimenting.

Reliability and Cost Savings Too

Moreover, if you then choose us for your production boards, we will reduce the price to reflect the cost savings associated with designing a board where a prototype version has already been created and fully tested.

Prototypes From Your Design (PFYD)

As part of our Tech - In - A - Box program, we’ll create a stable, professionally built prototype for you from your own board layout for testing,revising or experimenting with a new design.

Our prototypes exceed anything that can be hand-wired by your technicians in terms of reliability. These boards are delivered fully assembled with all components attached so that you can test your designs without the artifacts typical of hand-built test circuits – such as intermittent shorts and cold solder joints.

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Thought 2012 was marked with uncertainty, 2013 looks promising for US manufacturers – among them companies like Mass Design that are located in technology hubs where they draw on a highly educated workforce and serve niche customers nearby.

Mass Design (www.massdesign.com) produces high-reliability circuit boards used in military, medical, aerospace and instrumentation products as well as emerging sectors such as renewable energy.

While we expect some consumer electronics manufacturing to return to the US in 2013, for the most part, circuit boards for smart phones, computers and toasters are manufactured in Asia where plants hire thousands of workers to assemble millions of boards.

In contrast, Mass Design has fewer than 100 employees who can take a new product from design through prototype to fabrication and assembly – all under one roof. Its Nashua, New Hampshire location is a stone’s throw from Massachusetts’ Route 128 Technology Highway and Boston and Cambridge. Defense contractors and medical products manufacturers such as Raytheon, Fresenius and GE are within driving distance. Area colleges and universities deliver top engineering, manufacturing and technical talent. Likewise, the East Coast’s high-tech community promotes knowledge sharing and other intangible benefits.

Regarding past election uncertainty, Gately notes, “Since Paul Boduch and Tony Bourassa founded the company in l986, we’ve been through seven Presidential electoral cycles. We’ve heard arguments over which candidate would have been better for defense or healthcare – two technology-driven sectors in which Mass Design leads. Nonetheless, politics matter far less than how well we respond to technology, business and economic shifts in the US and worldwide.”

The emphasis on medical outcomes, cost and home monitoring offers potential with Mass Design participating in developing diagnostic and treatment equipment for Siemens, Baxter, GE, Tyco and others.

Regarding the military, Gately says, “In 2010, the US Cyber Command was created to coordinate our cyberspace resources and defend our information security environment. This emphasis on computer defense is unprecedented.”

Additionally, “Wind energy has shifted from ‘alternate’ to mainstream and we’re working on next-generation wind turbines,” says Gately. Mass Design manufactures multi-layer PCB boards large enough to handle massive amounts of current and power.

“We also serve customers who insist on manufacturing in the US for quicker turnaround, product confidence and environmental and safety standard assurances,” says Gately adding, “More broadly, outsourcing is turning around. Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced plans to manufacture one of its Mac lines in the US during an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams.” See: Huffington Post

PCB Magazine Cites Mass Design on Future of Home Use Medical Electronics

Healthcare reform and escalating Medicare and Medicaid costs are driving innovation in home-based medical electronics according to the September issue of the printed circuit board industry publication, The PCB Magazine.

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are at the heart of every modern electronic device, giving their manufacturers a unique ability to spot emerging trends. Home medical devices that monitor prescription medicine adherence or perform dialysis rely particularly on flexible printed circuit boards that combine both the circuit board function and wiring into a single unit that conforms to just about any shape, explains James Mahoney, applications engineer with Mass Design (www.massdesign.com). Based in Nashua, New Hampshire, Mass Design is a leader in high-reliability flexible PCBs for the medical and aerospace industry.

While an HIV vaccination or being able to forestall dementia, would have a huge cost impact, healthcare policymakers and the electronics industry are looking to keep people out of hospitals and long-term care facilities with medical monitoring and treatment at home.

In an interview with PCB Magazine, Mahoney observes, "Medical devices for home use are crammed with communication electronics, LEDs and video cameras – packing a lot of capability into a small space. They have to be tough, easy-to-use and virtually drop-proof as well as compact and attractively designed."

In addition to flexible circuit boards making these devices possible, researchers are looking into stretchable circuitry that can make prosthetic devices more lifelike. Says Mahoney, "True stretchability is still in its infancy. Stretching a circuit board, like an elastic band, changes the characteristics of the electrical vias by making them thinner and longer. We've turned to mechanical means to add stretchability more simply. Imagine a hairpin or spring, with the ends being pulled apart. It's a mechanical approach to stretchability without actually stretching the material."

Cost is a factor too. Mahoney points out, "The manufacturing cost has to be weighed in several ways with reliability being the byword. Consider downtime. In a hospital, where there may be multiple devices performing the same function, downtime is not as critical as when home health equipment fails in the middle of the night,"

The article titled, National Healthcare Policy Drives Flex Innovation to Meet Demand for Home Medical Electronics can be found in the September issue of PCB Magazine at: www.pcb007.

In the article, Mahoney offers six predictions for home healthcare electronicsthat will improve patient care and foster growth in electronics industry.

1. Printed circuit boards will have recessed components to squeeze more capability into thinner devices and to facilitate heat dissipation.

2. Faster circuits will emerge­ – especially for healthcare devices relying on radio frequency (RF), blue tooth and Wi-Fi to communicate between patient and caregiver.

3. Stretchable electronics will come into greater play with wearable circuitry –including prosthetic devices where the circuitry forms a subcutaneous layer around an extremity, perhaps adding sensitivity to the fingertips of a prosthetic hand.

4. There will be a far more systemic approach to prescription medicine adherence –electronically linking the hospital, doctor, nurse, pharmacy and caregivers to the patient.

5. Home medical devices will be incorporated into smartphones that can take your pulse, read glucose levels and measure activity. This will increase sales among an older population, as it may be cheaper to equip patients with smartphones loaded with medical applications than specialized devices manufactured in lower volume.

6. Expect reverse technology transfer. Mass Design manufactures PCBs for home healthcare devices that help to make their professional counterparts less costly and more universally available. This improves healthcare delivery and lowers cost for everyone.